Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has launched a survey to ask hillwalkers how they find out about deer stalking before heading for the hills and how useful the online information about stalking is. The results will be used to improve the information provided in future years. Whether or not you have used the stalking information, if you have been hillwalking since the start of July, please fill in the survey here.
The stag stalking season (1st July to 20th October) is a popular time of year for walkers, so three years ago SNH set up the Heading for the Scottish Hills website. The web service has proved popular with walkers with 7500 visits last year. This year, in a collaboration between SNH and Walkhighlands, the detailed information from the Heading for the Scottish Hills is also be directly available on the relevant hill routes on the Walkhighlands website.
The information provides stalking details from the participating estates and contact details for further information. Some estates provide detailed information on the site up to a week in advance, describing where and when stalking will take place, as well as suggested walking routes. Some estates have provided less detailed information but with a contact phone number or email. Hillwalkers are encouraged to use these contact details to ask the estates for details of any stalking activity on the days they plan to go walking. There is also information about responsible behaviour for land managers and walkers.
The Scottish Outdoor Access Code encourages walkers and other recreational users to take reasonable steps to find out about stag stalking, this is made much easier with the Heading for the Hills website and the collaboration with Walkhighlands. The web service has replaced Hillphones this year because of demand for an online service.
The website has expanded in 2012 to include more of Scotland’s most popular hill-walking areas, including in the Cairngorms National Park, Breadalbane and the west coast.
The online stalking information covers estates featured in over 100 hillwalks on Walkhighlands. The detailed stalking information will be updated daily from the Heading for the Scottish Hills website (individual estates update the information on a variable basis, with some posting a very general statement and a phone number, and others offering more detailed information with specific dates – the estates also usually state days when stalking does not take place). SNH is keen to hear from all hillwalkers, whether you have used the information on Walkhighlands or Heading for the Scottish Hills or not, so please fill in the survey here.